Those of skill in the art have recognized that it would be desirable to identify agents that inhibit more than one specific viral agent, so that different viral infections could be inhibited with a single agent or family of agents. By the same token, it would be desirable to identify such as “pan viral” agent that did not put survival pressure on the virus itself, so as to avoid being be defeated by the frequent mutations exhibited by the viral population. Until now, given the extreme variety of viral infectious modes and characteristics across the various viral families, it has been difficult to establish a common therapy. One pathway, apparently mediated by TSG101, is the subject of ongoing studies. Inhibition via this pathway, however, is primarily based on the generation of selective antibodies, and no specific agent or composition has been identified to interfere with these pathways on a commercial basis. These efforts are discussed, inter alia, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,835,816 and 6,248,523.
Recently, a family of compounds were identified as having implications for anti-bacterial activity, and in particular, anti-botulism activity. These compounds are identified in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 11/464,001 and 11/464,007, both of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. The compounds, per se, were originally identified in a screen for compounds having anti-tumor activity. It would be truly unusual if such compounds exhibited anti-viral activity as well as anti-bacterial activity. Recently, as described in 60/884,928, also incorporated by reference herein, two related compounds were indicated to have some ability to protect mice from challenge from Ebola virus. In the United States of America, and much of the rest of the world Ebola is a viral threat only in terms of a weapon deliverable, as in “germ warfare.” The treatment of other virus infections by a limited class of therapeutic agents is yet to be established.